Draco's Christmas
by Alonia143
Summary: Draco has his first Christmas with Hermione and kid. Merry Christmas! Short Story Please read and review, thank you! COMPLETED
1. Chapter 1

_**Draco's Christmas.**_

 _ **Summary:**_

 _ **Draco has his first Christmas with Hermione and kid.**_

 _Author's note:_

 _Well all I can say, that mornings are very strange and great for ideas when you least expect them! I hope you guys enjoy this one-shot._

 _The little adventure that Hermione and Draco go on is after the war has ended. They got a long journey to go on from Hogwarts to Wales. Short story here. Nothing too big since I already have 3 or more fics going on._

 _Happy Holidays everyone!_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter books, they belong to JK Rowling and I do not make any kind of money from this.**

 _Please read and review, thank you!_

 _Alonia143._

Draco's Christmas:

A few days had gone by; where people were still helping clean up the mess from the massive battle between Harry and Lord Voldemort.

Hermione tried her best to keep it together for the grieving families but, she was just 18 years old. She had been fighting this war since she was 11 years old.

Some parts of the castle were still in mountain rubble. Some areas were also on fire.

Hermione couldn't understand why one pile out in the courtyard near where Lord Voldemort's body still lay drew her attention. To Hermione, she felt like he should be in the ground. It doesn't take two wrongs to make a right or left or whatever.

She walked over to the burning pile of rubble and with a charm so that the flames wouldn't hurt her, she started to dig.

"What are you doing, Granger?" a voice behind her asked.

Hermione stopped digging, turned around and replied "Helping with the clean up, Draco. I think you would easily figure that out?"

"I do have eyes. But why are you?" he snapped back.

"Why am I what? Helping?" she asked him confused.

"Yes. You're a war hero. Shouldn't you be doing press junket like Potter and Weasley?" Draco asked, rolling his eyes.

"What?" She asked him in disbelief.

Draco shook his head and then conjured up a radio and turned it on.

" _Now, Mr. Potter, probably you can tell us why Miss Granger isn't here?"_ a reporter's voice came through.

" _I've already stated this before: We all handle the war very differently. If you cannot take my statement into account, then we are through forever,"_ Harry's voice snapped at the reporter.

Hermione could hear Ron's laughter and said _"Yeah. She's at Hogwarts cleaning up. Feels like she needs to be there,"_

Shock ran through Hermione's body as she felt so suddenly, abandoned by them.

"I take it they didn't inform you on this?" Draco softly asked her.

"No. We just got over a battle….a second war on blood prejudice…why?" she tried to explain.

Draco nodded and then said "If you would allow me to help you, I can. If you want to be left alone, I can do that too. Just right now…."

"I don't mind you helping me, Draco," Hermione said back, looking at him.

Draco nodded and then turned to the burning rubble.

They dug through the rubble quietly. It was a very rare thing since both of them grew up together and as enemies.

Hermione gasped as she found this white with green specks egg.

"What is that?" Draco asked her, looking at it warily.

"That is a Welsh Green Dragon's egg. And from the looks of it, we need to head to Wales," Hermione informed him with dread.

"What? Why do we need to go?" Draco asked, panicking now.

"Because the egg is broken and the Dragon just opened its eyes, staring directly at us," Hermione informed him again.

"It _what_!" Draco shouted.

True enough, there was the pale gray shimmery with green dragon with purple eyes staring at them both.

Draco started to shake his head and said "You can go to Wales, I'm staying here,"

"Fine. I always knew that you didn't hold up to your word," Hermione commented back, gently taking the baby dragon into her arms and walking away.

Draco was fuming.

"Alright, Granger. I'm coming with you," He snarled low at her.

"What? All because I called you a coward? My, my, my. I didn't know that I could get under your skin that easily, otherwise I would have done this a long time ago," she sweetly said back.

Draco walked over to her. Dwarfing her with his tall lean body frame.

"Get one thing straight: Just because I had that," he said, pointing to the dead body of Lord Voldemort feet away from them "in my house, doesn't mean you have the right to bully me into going in this yampy of a quest!"

"I'm not bullying you, Draco. It's just so happens that a baby dragon, of all species, bond with the person or the first thing it sees as its mother. We are extremely lucky that this is just a Welsh Green. Getting Sheep for food won't be that hard to do," Hermione countered him with a glare.

"They…they do?" he asked her curiously.

"Yes. It is also called imprinting. It also helps the babies survive. Of course, I understand that you want to stay here…I honestly do not," she replied, conjuring up a metal blanket for the dragon.

"Why don't you want to stay here?" He asked, looking at her strangely.

"I too have lost people that I love and care about," She said, looking up at him.

Draco didn't quite understand why the image of Hermione holding the baby gray dragon looked so inviting. Also so wrong too. Wrong because Draco, for some unknown reason, wanted her to hold a baby human, not a baby dragon.

' _And possibly,_ me _be the father,'_ he thought to himself but shook his head.

"I'm sorry," He muttered, looking at the ground.

"Nothing to cry over but, we are wasting daylight. I would like to spend some time away from here as much as possible," she said, walking away from the courtyard.

Draco soon walked after her and asked "You are sure that you want to do this?"

"Yes? Nothing is here but dead bodies and a castle being rebuilt," she replied, looking up at him.

Draco heavily sighed and then said "Wait for five minutes over near the edge of the bridge. There,"

Hermione nodded as Draco disappeared with a crack.

The baby dragon made whimpering and crying sounds as it wiggled to where Draco left.

"Shh. Shh. It's okay," Hermione worried.

It was difficult when the baby dragon was squirming and hissing low at Hermione.

"It's okay. Daddy will be right back," she tried to calm the little thing.

"Did you just say that I'm its Dad?" Draco nearly stumbled as he held two backpacks.

"Ah! You scared me, Draco!" Hermione shrieked out of fright as the baby dragon growled in dislike at that.

"Sorry. But seriously Granger?" He said, looking her over.

"Well…we are its parents in a very odd way," she blushed heavily.

The baby dragon started to purr when both of them weren't arguing at one another.

"Want to put him or her in this?" Draco asked, holding up her backpack.

"It will tear it to shreds," she said, looking at him as if he was nuts.

"Granger, we're a wizard and a witch. Are we not?" he replied, smirking.

"Uhg, fine. You sound like Ron," she muttered, taking the backpack.

"Nothing like Weasley," Draco huffed.

"Sure you're not," she teased him, gently kneeling down and putting the baby sleeping dragon into the backpack.

"I told my mother that I won't be able to reach her or father. Potter was there too. I told him that you were coming with me on this quest. He said that it reminded him of his first year," Draco said, looking at her questioningly.

"Norbert! Oh I had almost forgotten about him. He was heavy though," Hermione said back, shaking her head.

"Wait a minute. That was you, Potter and Weasley who got that little-"

"Yes, we did, Malfoy. We wouldn't betray Hagrid like that," Hermione cut in, leveling him with a nasty glare.

Hermione left him be as she conjured up a map and looked to the closet wizarding town.

Draco walked over and looked over her shoulder.

"Pernrith, Loch Lomond and Trossachs National park is after that," Hermione muttered to herself.

Draco looked at the map and then said "Sticking to small towns and national parks?"

"Yeah. So that if something happens, we can flee from there," Hermione nodded to him.

"Where to now?" He asked her curiously.

"Pernrith," Hermione told him.

"Have you ever been there?" he asked worriedly.

"No, but using a portkey wouldn't hurt either. Come on," Hermione said, walking into the forest of the Forbidden Forest.

Draco followed after her and then took her hand into his. Hermione looked up at him with calmness. Before either of them could say anything, the world around them began to spin and then they were off.

When they appeared, Draco stumbled and knelt down.

Hermione landed on her feet as she gently took off the backpack to check on the dragon.

"Are you alright?" she asked into the backpack.

All she got was light snoring.

"Its fine," Draco grumbled out to her.

"I am just curious, Draco," Hermione snapped back.

He sighed as he looked around. They weren't that far away from Hogwarts, but probably several miles.

"I've never been here," he stated to her.

"Of course you haven't, neither have I. I just know that Pernrith is a wizarding town. You brought any money?" she asked him, walking through the field.

"No?" he replied, giving her a glare.

Heavily sighing Hermione then said "We can go to Diagon Ally to get some. I wish the Wizarding world had little ATMs,"

"What is an ATM?" Draco asked her confused.

"It's a little portable bank for muggles. You can approach it at any time that you need some money, withdraw from the machine and off you go about your day," Hermione explained to him.

Draco stared at her and said "Muggles are really weird,"

"No, you just don't understand how they live," she replied back.

"I'm not getting into an argument with you, Granger," Draco hissed in warning.

"Fine," she said, walking away from him.

It was still the same time as Hermione suddenly disappeared from Draco. He didn't hear the normal cracking sound but when glanced over to the right, he understood why.

It was a muggle town.

If they heard a thundering cracking sound with no clouds or rain, they would get suspicious.

So Draco just stood there, waiting for Hermione to reappear.

Forty five minutes later, Hermione appeared and was kneeling down, looking very pale-green.

"I hate those rides," she muttered as she popped a candy into her mouth.

"Where did you go?" Draco asked her.

"Diagon Ally. If we are going to spend the night or even a few days at an inn or hotel, we will need some money," she told him.

Draco heavily sighed and asked "Why can't we just go to Wales?"

"Because I'm not willing myself to do that to Arenn," she snapped at him.

It was only then that Draco realized that her backpack was not on her. Instead it was on the ground right next to his feet.

"Arenn? Who's Arenn?" Draco asked her.

"The baby dragon. It's a male and I named him Arenn," She said, getting up after her dizzy spell had disappeared.

Draco saw that her pale-green look was gone as well.

"What was that that you took?" he asked her curiously.

"Oh, Luna made up a potion to make dizziness go away. Along with upset stomachs, whether it's from too much stomach acid or when you're pregnant. It's truly a genius of a potion," Hermione explained to him.

"And it's in a form a candy?" He asked, looking into her eyes.

"Yeah. That way muggles don't know what you're eating and it's portable. There was always a really good reason why she was in Ravenclaw," Hermione replied, smiling.

Draco nodded as Hermione took her backpack and picked it up; placing it back onto her shoulders.

They walked onto the main road and headed into Pernrith.

It looked almost like that of Hogsmeade; houses and building clustered close to each other with shops that were for nearly everything that you could think of, of needing.

Hermione had to pull Draco away from the Quidditch shop by the scruff of his coat.

"Awe, come on, Granger!" he whined, walking backwards.

"No. We're not here for that," she countered him.

"But, it's the latest gear! I need that!" he protested more.

"When we're finished, we can come back and you can buy it," she said, still pulling him backwards.

"But, my babies! They need me!" he whined some more.

"No, Draco," she firmly told him, walking down a street as the shop was finally out of sight.

Draco heavily sighed and said "You're no fun,"

"Of course not," she retorted, letting him go.

Before she could do anything, Draco ran back to the shop.

"Uhg! Men and their stupid love for this stupid barbaric sport," She grumbled to herself.

A few minutes later, Draco came back, smiling with bags.

"You just had to get them, didn't you?" Hermione huffed.

"Oh yes and I got you something too," Draco sweetly replied, smirking.

Hermione looked up at him and said "What?"

"Since we are dealing with ….something dangerous, I figured that you handling it, you would need these," Draco said, handing her the bag.

Hermione took it and looked inside.

"Look at it when we're in the bedroom of the inn, dear," Draco said, gently looping his arm around her own.

"You didn't have to get me this," she muttered.

"I know, but you can never be too sure," He replied, leaning down and softly kissing her forehead.

Hermione froze and looked up at him.

"We have to play the parts of being boyfriend and girlfriend. Otherwise, we'll never get this dragon home," Draco whispered low to her.

"I always wanted to date you anyway," she whispered back, smiling.

Draco moved away from her face, looking away from her as she giggled.

When they got to the inn, Hermione soon quickly realized it wasn't an Inn.

From the outside it looks warm, modest and rustic. Small stones and carved pillars make up most of the building's outer structure. It's difficult to see through the stained glass windows, but the cheerful sounds from within can be felt outside.

It was a tavern.

"Hello," An older woman greeted them.

"Hello, do you have rooms here?" Draco asked her politely.

"We do. Would you and your girl like a room together?" she replied, getting drinks ready for the customers.

"For tonight please," Draco said as the older woman nodded.

"Room 12," she said, handing over the key.

"Thank you," Draco said and then both he and Hermione walked to the stair case.

They walked to room 12 and unlocked the door.

Hermione looked around the large room with a single king size bed.

"Is that little monster awake?" Draco asked her curiously.

Hermione walked inside, closed the door with a lot of charms, spells and wards as she took out Arenn.

"If there is a store or meat shop nearby, get sheep meat," she told Draco, handing him over several galleons to him.

"Why do-"

"Would you like to watch him?" Hermione cut him off.

"No. Fine, I'll get the meat, but if it cost more, then I'm putting you on my list," Draco replied, walking over to the door and slipping out.

Arenn looked at Hermione sleepily.

"We're only just begun on this quest and already I'm just about wanted to turn Draco back into that annoying bouncing ferret," she grumbled to herself.

She turned around for one simple second when she heard rustling of paper. She spun back around and gasped.

Arenn was a little mischief and torn the paper apart.

"Arenn," she hissed low, walking over to the ripped bag.

Arenn growled low as she cleaned up the mess. Looking inside of the bag now, she saw that there were gloves, a harness and a shrunken cage.

Hermione was stunned but, also she knew that they would need these things later on. However, how did Draco get these from the Quidditch shop?

' _Unless he didn't actually go in there.'_ she thought to herself.

Forty five minutes later, Draco walked back into their room and then said "You are on the list,"

"What? How could it cost that much?" she asked him, lying on the bed with Arenn on her lap.

"Knowing how much he will need, I got well over 400 pounds of it," he replied, holding out a bag.

"400 pounds!?" Hermione exclaimed, looking at him.

"It's a Dragon," Draco stated.

"Fine, give me some meat," Hermione said, holding out her hand.

Draco shrugged and took out his wand. Several pieces of meat floated up and landed on a plate, which then floated over to Hermione.

Arenn was too calm as Hermione got up and put the plate on the floor. With a simple swish of her wand, Arenn sprang from his spot and darted to the plate.

Hermione took the bag and put spells on it as she saw Arenn was still gorging himself on the sheep meat.

"Who's going to sleep on the couch?" Hermione asked Draco.

"You can," he said, shrugging.

"You know, you are a right foul git," Hermione told him.

"I've been told a lot worse, Granger," Draco retorted back.

"Right, the infamous bouncing ferret," Hermione said, locking eyes with him.

Draco swiftly walked over to her, pushed her until she hit the wall with her back.

"Just remember that you were tortured in my home by my mad bent aunt," he reminded her.

Hermione glared up at him and said "At least I didn't follow a lunatic,"

Draco's eyes turned hard and grayer as he leaned forward, but then moved quickly away from Hermione shrieking. Hermione looked behind him as she saw Arenn growling and trying to produce fire, but all he could do was produce a flame ball.

Draco was hopping, shrieking, and whimpering "My bum is on fire! My bum is on fire!"

Hermione just picked Arenn up, sat on the bed and just watched Draco run, hop and dart about the room until he ran into the bathroom.

With a swish of her wrist, the door was locked and warded up.

"Granger! Let me out!" Draco yelled at her.

"No, I don't think I will," she said, putting a silence charm on the room.

Arenn nodded with a huff, cuddling into Hermione's arms.

"Come on, Arenn, bedtime," she sweetly said to him.

If there was any banging on the door to the bathroom, Hermione and Arenn didn't hear it.

That night, Hermione slept in the bed with Arenn sleeping in his cage; though he didn't like it at all, and Draco slept in the bathroom.

Draco was thankful that Hermione had put a silence spell on the entire room, but felt useless when he heard her screaming out.

The next day, they checked out of the tavern and headed south.

They camped near the national park and even though he didn't like her, the screaming from her nightmares was chipping away at his heart.

Arenn kept close to Hermione out of protectiveness.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2.**_

The first few days, Hermione had them traveling at a steady pace. Arenn was growing larger and larger; eating nearly all of the 400 pounds of meat until the refill spell would kick in.

Draco and Hermione were still on edge with each other.

They didn't know how to act around one another after leaving that tavern in Pernrith. They talked to one another only when they needed to go somewhere or needed something.

The nightmares that Hermione had in that tavern had also vanished.

Draco didn't like it when she screamed like that. He wish he could have done more to protect her in form.

One evening, they had settled down in their new location; close to another national park and forest.

Draco was in their tent, reading a book. Hermione had already gone to bed with Arenn in his cage.

What he was reading was about a whimper?

' _What?'_ he thought and looked over to where Hermione was sleeping.

She whimpered again.

Getting up, he wasn't going to sit around now. He walked over to her, flicked his wand to lock the cage on Arenn and gently sat down next to her.

From here she didn't look so small. That the memory of her torture by his mad aunt was just a nightmare, hopefully forgotten.

Another whimper escaped Hermione.

"Granger…" Draco hissed low, hoping that would work.

It didn't.

"Granger," Draco hissed again, looking around.

Hermione didn't wake up.

"For Merlin's beard!" Draco snarled and then shook Hermione's small shoulder. "Granger!"

She tossed and turned onto her side, but the memory still gripped her in its clutches.

Fear of not knowing of what else to do, Draco then gently took her shoulder, shook it and said "Hermione!"

As if a spell was lifted, she snapped open her eyes and sat up.

"Whoa! Hey! I'm sitting here!" Draco complained when he was moved by her.

"Draco?" she said, breathing heavily.

"Yes, it's me. Now, do you want some hot chocolate?" Draco asked, knowing that his mother had used that on him whenever he had nightmares.

"What? Oh …yes please," she said, looking down at her feet.

"Good," he replied, getting up and walking over to their kitchen.

Draco waited patiently for the water in the muggle electric tea pot to boil. He was in awe of how muggles got by without magic and was slowly learning that what they have come up with wasn't that bad.

Instead of using owls and writing letters, they use feletones. Or was it _telephones_? Whichever one, Draco was fascinated by it all.

He glanced over and saw that Hermione wasn't in her bed until he saw her huddled up in her chair next to the fireplace.

The tea pot clicked loudly as he got their cups ready. Adding a bit of whip cream on top of each, he swished his wand and walked over to her.

"Here," he said, handing it to her.

"Thank you," she mumbled and took it.

He nodded and sat down, sipping his own cup slowly.

"This is really good," she said, looking up at him.

He smiled and then said "You have some whip cream on your nose,"

Looking a bit horrified, Hermione quickly wiped it away.

Draco snickered and he too sipped from his cup.

"Draco…you have some on your nose too," she replied, softly smiling.

Draco made his eyes look down the middle of his nose as she burst out laughing.

"I don't see anything, Hermione," he played dumb, smiling.

Hermione leaned over and wiped it away, still smiling.

"Oh, that. I was wondering what that was," he smirked.

She shook her head and said "At least the waking is better than dreaming,"

"Want to talk about it?" he asked her, knowing that this could well.

"For a moment, I had faced Lord Voldemort. He didn't care if I fell over or died right there, he kept firing off spells. I couldn't keep up," she muttered to him.

"No one could. Not even Potter. Tom Riddle was powerful when he was a boy," Draco countered, looking at the ground.

"You know his real name?" Hermione asked him.

"Well, yes. My mother taught me in secret what Lord Voldemort was before he became a dark warlock," Draco sneered.

"She really was trying to protect you. And knowing your aunt…that couldn't have been easy," Hermione said, staring into her cup.

"No, it wasn't. That massive snake was in rooms where it shouldn't have been. Followers claiming that they saw Potter here or saw you there. It was bloody annoying. I'm glad that it's all over," Draco replied, looking up at her carefully.

"What else did she teach you?" she asked him curiously.

"That if I ever reveal that I know the true background of Tom Riddle, I would be dead. I had asked her once, why I needed to know of this. Because even now, it still seems useless," Draco began, staring into the flickering flames of the fire. "She told me that even though we all come into this world; we only have our choices to make us who we are. And that Tom Riddle had chosen to go down a very lonely, solitude, destructive path because of how he grew up and the era that he grew up in,"

"You sound almost like Dumbledore there. He said the same thing to Harry but in our Second Year," Hermione commented.

"He did? I wonder what would have happened if I was with you guys from the start," Draco said, softly drinking more of his hot chocolate.

"Probably could have been best mates with Harry and always going at it with Ron," Hermione said, smiling.

"Yeah. And then there would be you," Draco smirked at her.

"And Ginny. She and I are best mates. She is going to be a Quidditch player since she loves it so much," Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I take it you are not that big of a fan of it?" he knew.

"No. Not since first year and that Ron and Harry would ignore me for discussing it for hours on end. Or when Harry got his first broom ever," she replied, shaking her head.

Draco whined out "Oh Merlin, don't bring that up!"

"Seeing your face was pretty cute," she teased him.

"Cute? My face isn't cute, woman. My face is handsome. Women fall over wanting to kiss this face and lips," he teased her right back.

"Oh lord, no! That is it. I'm going back to bed!" she exclaimed, getting up and walking into the kitchen to put her cup in the sink.

Chuckling Draco then got up and said "For real though, you are going to be alright?"

"I will be. Just now, I'm letting my mind and soul heal. It is time for that part of me to happen," she replied, biting her lower lip.

Draco nodded and then said "Don't be scared to wake me up or just slip into my bed if you get nightmares. I don't mind,"

"People will talk," she said with an arched eyebrow.

"No one is here but us two and that …kid," Draco reminded her of Arenn.

"He isn't a kid, Draco. He's a Dragon and a baby at that," she scolded him.

"Still a kid," he protested.

Hermione rolled her eyes at this and went back to bed.

Draco, though he was happy to have made her laugh and smile for a little bit, knew that this was going to get a lot worse before it got better.

The next day, Hermione looked at the map and said "we need to go in this line,"

"Alright," Draco said, walking behind her.

For all day they were quiet. Arenn was growling in his cage within Hermione's backpack.

They couldn't let him roam on his leash, what would the passing muggle think?

Hermione brought this subject up and Draco told her no.

"But Draco, he needs-"

"Granger. I'm not telling you again," He cut her off.

"If we transfigured his look, no one would know," she huffed at him.

Draco took hold of her hand and pulled her to a stop "I don't think any metal can hold a dragon on a leash. Let alone a baby,"

Hermione stared up into his eyes and then nodded.

"If you can handle him squirming on your back, I'll take it and we'll switch every other day," He said, looking at the backpack.

"I don't feel him squirming, I just don't want him destroying the tent!" she explained to him more.

"So that wasn't you who did it?" He asked.

The first time that they had Arenn in his cage for all of the day, he didn't like it all that much. That night, when Hermione and Draco were gathering food and water, the tent on the inside was destroyed as Arenn was in his cage when they got back.

"No. It wasn't," she replied, looking at the ground.

They were hugging more of the open lands and small parks but the forests were thinning.

"Fine, put him on his leash. But I am not running after him if he gets loose," Draco caved in into her.

Hermione smiled with "Thank you Drackie,"

"Uhg, no more telling stories on my childhood," he protested.

Hermione giggled and she brought Arenn out.

The baby dragon wasn't so little anymore. He was growing bigger and bigger with each passing day. Right now, he weighed about 18 pounds.

Hermione put the harness on him and then waved her wand as the leash suddenly began to glow gold. Arenn ran around excitedly as Draco waved his wand and made the little spunky dragon look like a dog.

Hermione smiled as Arenn ran and chased after nothing as Draco picked up the backpack.

She took his hand and laced her fingers with his stating "Lovely day for a walk,"

Draco snickered after his shock and said "Oh yeah. Just grand,"

"When we get back…" Hermione began but bit her lower lip.

"We'll go back to normal…whatever the hell normal is," Draco finished for her.

"Maybe. But I don't want to be sitting behind a desk all day long. This, I can easily do, but…" Hermione worried as she stared off into the field that Arenn was in.

"It's what you know. Chasing after a bigger picture and doing what is right against evil," he commented.

Hermione looked at him and said "Yes. Dumbledore groomed us to be like this,"

"Yeah. So if you want to do something like this, let me join you," Draco said, softly squeezing his fingers against hers.

"You want to join me? Why?" she asked, trying to figure this out.

"Because, every time that you and Potter with Weasley, would go off and do stuff, it seemed more fun than staying behind and doing school work. The stories that I hear you and Potter tell to everyone, it sounds amazing…" Draco said, shrugging his shoulder.

"Alright, I'll let you come along, but Drackie, you already on an adventure with me," she teased him.

"UHG! I am never going to name my child after a star!" he groaned.

Hermione laughed at this.

"Oh shut up!" Draco pouted.

"I don't mind the names: Carina, Leo, Ara, Corvus, Norma, Orion and Scorpius," she smiled.

"Yeah? You don't find my family tradition …weird?" he asked.

"No? Aren't all family traditions weird in their own way?" she asked him back.

"I guess they are," he replied, thinking on it.

Hermione nodded and then said loudly "Arenn! Arenn come here sweetie!"

Draco watched the bounding and bouncing baby dragon run back to them as the leash shrank as well.

* * *

For several weeks, it was like that. They walked wherever they needed to go and let Arenn out on his forever extendable leash during the day.

Draco felt like he was connecting more and more with Hermione than ever before.

She wasn't just a student and he wasn't just a bully to her anymore.

They helped one another out if it called for it. And Arenn was growing bigger and bigger by the day.

It was one late afternoon where they were getting closer and closer to certain cities and towns.

"Draco? Where are we?" Hermione asked, looking around them worriedly.

"I don't know," he replied, not liking this either.

"May I see the map please?" she asked, holding out her hand.

"Accio Map," he said into her extendable bag.

The map jumped up and he caught it, handing it to her.

She searched the map and then groaned out "We're too close to London. We're about to head to Watford. We need to make a sharp turn now. How could you get us lost?"

"What? Me? Get us lost? I didn't have the bloody map all the time!" Draco exclaimed irritably.

SNAP!

Both turned around and looked around them.

They both knew that the remaining death eaters were still on the run.

"Where's Arenn?" Hermione whispered to Draco.

"Backpack," he muttered low, both had their wands out.

Draco pushed Hermione behind him as he looked around the open field that a farmer had for his cattle.

"Where are you little rats?" they heard a man muttered.

Draco waved his wand and pretty soon, the cool sensation of something on top of their heads was felt. They both disappeared just in time as several remaining death eaters walked by.

Hermione waved her wand as her otter shot from her wand tip and shot away. Draco watched the group carefully as they didn't see anything.

"Stun them and then tie them up for Harry and the others to arrest them," Hermione whispered low into Draco's ear.

He nodded as he thought of a stunning jinx as he pointed to the tallest of the group.

THUMP!

"What was that?" one of them said, looking around with his beady little eyes.

"Jas! Jas!" another spotted their "leader" on the ground.

"Shut up you moron!" a stouter death eater hissed low.

Mean while, Draco was pushing Hermione further and further away from them. He shot another jinx at another away from the clustered group.

THUMP!

"Arold! Arold!" the same death eater shrieked.

"Shut up, Ky!" the stouter death eater snarled at him again.

It was then that the aloud cracking sound surrounded the group and red jets of spells hit each and every one of the death eaters.

"Hermione!" Harry said loudly.

The aurors looked at Harry as if he was going crazy. But when Draco revealed them, a few feet away, Harry ran over.

"Hermione!" he exclaimed, hugging her.

"Harry," she said, hugging him out of shock.

"Are they all caught, Potter?" Draco asked him.

"We don't know if there are more, but we will check the town that is nearby," he replied, holding his best friend close.

"Alright. Granger, you …alright?" Draco asked her worriedly.

"I know one of these death eaters. I met him while I was defending my parents. They died for nothing," she mumbled to them.

Harry locked his eyes with Draco and whispered "She never told me what actually happened to her parents, Mal….Draco,"

Draco paled at hearing this and then walked over, gently separating her from Harry and held her close as she cried silently into his chest. Harry let this happen and watched how Draco was comforting his best friend.

"Potter," Draco mumbled to him "I don't care if it's not right, torture that ass,"

Harry stared at Draco and whispered "No or I'll just be like what they are. He'll get the Kiss instead,"

Draco looked away but asked "Where is a wizarding town around here?"

"Head to Blenheim Palace. I think, from that town, you can easily contact the Magical Creature Force," Harry said, keeping his eyes on Hermione.

"Knowing Hermione, she'll want to see this little bugger off with the clan," Draco replied back.

"Yeah. I'll take your reports when you get back," Harry told him.

"Here," Hermione said, handing over two parchment rolls to Harry.

He took them, surprised.

"Are you going to be ok?" Harry asked her worriedly.

"Yes," she said, wiping away her tears.

Draco gently pushed Hermione to where they needed to go from here.

"Bye, Potter," Draco said as he walked away.

"Bye, Malfoy…" Harry muttered back, watching the two walk away.

Harry wondered what had happened between the two to go from being enemies to this.

"Where do we need to go?" Draco asked, even though he knew the answer.

"Blenheim Palace. Then to Gloucester, make a sharp turn North to Wrexham and then to Ecrin where Snowdonia national Park is located within. The Welsh Green dragons live within that national park, but at times, they attack and/or kill a muggle on accident," Hermione listed off to Draco.

"On Accident? Hermione, I haven't forgotten my fourth year. I remember what that thing nearly did to Fleur!" Draco yelped.

Hermione heavily sighed and said "I was putting it mildly,"

"No, you think?" He retorted back.

"I'm not going to get into a debate with you on this," she said back.

"You can look after the kid then," he gruffed, walking further away from her.

Hermione shook her head and muttered "Men are such babies,"

"We are not!" Draco protested.

"Proving my point," she replied back.

Draco stopped and looked back at her stating "We are not babies. Just don't like to lose is all,"

"And what does a baby do when they don't get what they want? Oh yes, they cry,"

"I am not crying, Granger," Draco growled.

"No, but you sure are whining," she smirked.

"Ooh! That does it!" he said, glaring at her.

Hermione had the sense to start running from him. Draco took off after her, easily.

"Get back here!" Draco yelled out.

"Never!" she cried out, smiling.

Harry just shook his head from his small stand point and got back to work.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3.**_

Draco snuggled closer to Hermione in their bed.

"Draco, quit hogging the bed!" she hissed at him.

"I have like an inch here, Granger," he growled low in her ear.

"Yeah, sure you do," she huffed, pushing him back.

"AH!" then THUD.

Hermione sat up and looked over the bed to see Draco flat on his back.

"You are an evil witch," He wheezed out.

"Oh, I am not, but thank you for the rest of the bed," she smiled down at him.

"Uh huh….evil witch," he wheezed out.

It has been 4 months since their journey began. And even though they bicker with each other, they have found that they didn't mind being with each other.

They had a week to go. Hermione had gotten really close to Arenn. Draco knew that letting him back into the wild would be difficult.

Draco didn't like what he was about to do but, it had to be done.

"You alright down there?" the soft sigh came from the bed.

Groaning, he got up and glared at the witch and the dragon that had the whole bed now.

"Granger, come on. Give me some place to sleep," he huffed in annoyance.

"The couch!" she said, not even opening her eyes as she pointed to it.

"Besides the couch," Draco growled low.

"Sorry, but we're comfy," she said, smiling.

"You do realize that you will have to let him go. He won't be snuggling up into beds and such. He is a dragon after all, not a human Baby," Draco snapped at her.

That made her opened her eyes and looked at him.

"I know that, Draco," she said, sitting up slowly to look at him now.

"The reason why I bought that cage was for him to understand: He is not a Pet. Hell, he is not even human and already you have babied him long enough," Draco continued.

"I know what I have to do, Malfoy. Don't tell me different," she warned him.

"Really? Because having him up on the bed, baby talking to him and never letting him go off of his leash or harness isn't exactly setting him free," Draco said, glaring at her now.

Hermione glared at him back.

Oh how she hated the fact that what he was telling her, was the truth. That even she knew, at the age of 11, that she said nearly the same thing to Hagrid. But here she was: behaving like Hagrid had done.

Over the past 4 months, Hermione had developed some kind of mother bond with Arenn. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help. It was just a part of her.

Draco took out his wand, flicked his wrist and Arenn was levitated up in the air. The hissing and growling coming from him made them know that he wasn't too pleased with this treatment. Draco put him in his cage and locked it.

Pretty soon Hermione lay back down and turned away from Draco, scooting as far away as possible. Draco heavily sighed and got back into bed.

"It's for the better, Hermione," he whispered, but got no response.

They all fell asleep soon after that.

The next morning, Draco was up and about. He let Hermione sleep in as he took Arenn outside.

The air was cold and harsh. Winter was approaching as it was November now. Draco thought back to when summer had just started. And then this wild quest to release Arenn back to his clan happened and time just flew by.

During the 4 months, Draco got to know Hermione. They were standoffish to each other but, when they started to open up about what had happened between them as kids, growing up and then the War, it just felt comfortable.

Draco would know when Hermione would be having nightmares and/or a rough day by looking her over. Hermione would listen quietly whenever Draco was muttering and cursing things up a storm.

It also didn't help that Arenn forced the two to be together.

Draco almost fell over when he felt his arm nearly pulled out of its socket.

"Easy!" He snarled at Arenn.

Arenn stopped and then trotted fast.

Draco couldn't do much of anything but run after the spunky dragon.

They were near the national park and even though Muggles were about, they couldn't just camp in the national park. So they had gotten a room at a wizard's inn.

Draco jogged to keep up with the dragon; that was thankfully disguised as a massive dog.

Arenn trotted until he stopped, sniffing the air and his tail curling and swishing a bit.

"Ooh, you're hungry eh? Come on, let's leave those sheep alone and have something back at the room," Draco said, flicking his wand and levitating Arenn back to the inn.

Draco and Arenn walked back into their room, closing the door.

"There you are!" Hermione suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Yes, I took him out since he was whining," Draco replied, but got a glare from her anyway.

"Thank you," she said, walking back into the bathroom.

"What? I didn't want him to wake you up. Is that so wrong to think of others or was this war that damaging?" Draco hissed in anger.

Hermione spun around and said "I never said any of that, Malfoy,"

"Maybe not, but still, Hermione," Draco exclaimed in frustration as he walked over to where the steamy coffee was at.

The bathroom door was closed as Draco shook his head.

' _This is going to get ugly,'_ he thought to himself.

Hermione had told Draco, a day before yesterday that the Wizarding Dragon Force or the W.D.F., was going to be a couple days late. They were trying to cover up a massive break out of the dragons and a massive loss to the sheep stocks.

Draco just hoped that it would go by quickly.

By the time that it was 10 in the morning, Hermione was walking in the little wizarding village. There were a lot of shops lined up on one massive street and then looped around, down towards the creek. Hermione saw cafes, restaurants, bookshops, clothing shops and many other things.

The one place that she loved was a café joined bookshop.

She got her cup of coffee from there and bought several books at once; all the while reading them as she sat next to the window.

Today, she was going to be seeing someone that she hasn't seen in a long time. The fireplace of the cozy coble café lit up and out stepped the young man.

Everyone started to whisper as he walked over to where she sat.

"Hello, Hermione," Harry greeted her, engulfing her in a massive hug.

"Harry," she said warmly, hugging him back.

"Been so long since I last saw you," he said, pulling back to look her over.

"Yeah. Last leg of this journey," she said, smiling still.

"Is that one for me?" he asked, pointing to the coffee cup.

"Oh, yes. Please sit down," she said to him, sitting back down in her chair.

He nodded and then said "You look a lot better than before,"

Hermione had stopped and stared at her best friend. It took her a moment to understand his words and blushed a bit.

"Thank you. How are you doing? Are the rest of the Death Eaters caught?" she said, sipping her coffee.

"I'm doing alright. Been busy just catching them all and helping Ginny," he said back, sipping his coffee too.

"Helping? What do you mean?" she asked him.

"She's the newest player on the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team. Though she is putting up a fight with Molly. Molly wants her to finish Hogwarts first," Harry said, almost with endearing pride.

"Well, that would be the most logical thing for her to do. No one outside of Quidditch would hire her. I'm happy that she got a spot on a professional Quidditch team," Hermione said, nodding to herself.

"Yeah…but you know Gin. She is stubborn," Harry chuckled.

"Don't even get me started on how she is so stubborn," Hermione smiled back.

"So, how are you and Malfoy?" Harry asked, hoping that they were still together as a team to get the baby dragon home.

"He's pushing for me to not baby Arenn. I got an owl by the W.D.F. that they would be late since a massive break out of the dragons attack about 10 farmers that hold a lot of sheep," she replied, shaking her head.

"Well…wait, who's Arenn?" Harry asked, looking at her.

"The baby dragon," She replied.

"Oh, well I can side with Malfoy on this one, Hermione. He will be going back to the wild. He won't be needed here in the human world. He will need to know how to hunt, be with the clan and pretty soon have a family of his own. What can he get from us humans anyway?" Harry said, hoping that she would see reason.

She didn't say anything back. Her mind was speeding faster than the speed of light and she needed to think on something.

"You sound just like Draco," Hermione mumbled.

Harry didn't miss the first name bases and said "He knows that, that is the harsh truth. He's not doing this to hurt you; at least I don't think he would. But, Hermione, you have to let Arenn go. He is a dragon, not …a person,"

Hermione ignored Harry.

Harry heavily sighed and then said "Please don't be stubborn on this, Hermione. You and I both know that it's the truth and it needs to happen. I have to get back. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Hermione looked at him then and said "I'm not being stubborn, Harry,"

"Yeah, you are. And even I would listen to Malfoy on this. I'll see you," he said and walked away from her.

A huge sense of loss engulfed Hermione as she watched her best friend disappear in the green flames of the fireplace.

Hermione soon left the café with her bag of books.

She has kept most of her secret to herself. Sure they know of it, but not the full story. So how could they understand what she is going through?

Opening the door to her room with Draco and Arenn, she walked in and gasped.

Draco was sitting on top of the cage; the room was torn apart. Pillows ripped with the feathers all over the floor. The lamps were broken to shattered bits as the lamp shades were ripped and chewed on. Water was pooling from the bathroom as she heard a hissing of water trickling onto the floor. The pictures were crooked as some were on the floor with broken glass.

"What happened in here?" she asked in shock.

"Your bloody precious baby did this because he was hungry!" Draco snarled.

"What? I fed Arenn-"

"No, you didn't, Hermione. You left without thinking of feeding him. Now you get to clean this all up, since he is your pet!" Draco cut her off and then stormed out of their room.

WHAM!

She jumped when the door was slammed but then heavily sighed.

With a lazy motion of her wand, everything was starting to get fixed and put back in its place again.

Hermione took out her beaded bag and then produced the meat that Arenn was searching for. She didn't know how things got so out of control but now, she realized that Draco needed to understand.

Arenn ripped and gulped down the meat in his cage.

Hermione sat down and looked into the cage. There, she saw Arenn as the baby dragon that was hatched but, then that image disappeared and in its place showed the growing dragon.

"I have to set you free," she said to him.

A low hiss came from Arenn, almost as if he was saying 'yes'.

Hermione took out her wand and then sent her otter to the W.D.F. and just waited.

That late morning and early afternoon, she didn't hear from Draco but, the W.D.F. replied back, saying that they would pick up Arenn in the morning instead of the couple of days.

Hermione hoped that Arenn would be alright.

The door to their room opened and she saw Draco walk inside with a couple of bags.

"Hi," he greeted her.

"Hi. I asked the W.D.F. to come pick up Arenn much earlier," she told him.

Draco was pleased but, did not like the flat emotionless tone in her voice.

"You going to be alright with that?" he asked her, looking her over.

"I was trying to block a hole in my heart with Arenn. My parents are everything to me, Draco. I know that you have done everything to protect your mother, but I couldn't with mine," Hermione finally started to speak of this.

Draco walked over and sat down. He knew that something was off. The nightmares with Hermione had only gotten worse as they headed closer and closer to the National park.

"What happened?" Draco asked her.

"I didn't expect that my spells would work so well that the magic within the spells would stop. So my parents had come home to an empty house, without me in it. Not realizing that the Death Eaters had put wards on the house, they appeared at once.

My parents fought to know where I was. They died being tortured for information on me, Harry or Ron and murdered when the 'fun' was over.

"I will never get to have my father walk me down to my wedding. Or my mom sending me some kind of recipe that she had just clipped out of the newspaper. Or either of them being there for me to spill what has been bothering me or how my day had been. They are Gone, Draco and I wish for the life of me, that they were here.

I had gone home where I was greeted by that Death Eater, Ky Brooksmere, and saw my parents bodies turned to stone. I battled him and left some scares on him but he blasted my parents bodies. I had no other choice but to flee as he laughed evilly," Hermione told him, tears spilling over and trickling down her face.

Draco paled at these words. He knew that Hermione's parents weren't here during the major part of the war. He had never known for Hermione's magic to just suddenly stop working.

How could that happen? Unless someone had purposely had done the counter spell to lift those spells from her parents. If that was the case, Draco promised himself, right then and there, that he would track whoever did it down.

Getting up, he walked over to the barely holding it together woman before him, sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms. Hermione lost it into his embrace.

She sobbed, she cried, she wailed in the utter most pain. She did everything possible to keep them alive but, they were murdered anyway. Draco tightened his hold on the shivering and quaking woman that was in his arms.

Time didn't seem to go by; instead it felt like it was going backwards. Being very slow and thoughtful of everything.

Hermione's tears seemed to run out but, the pain that she felt in heart would never go away. She was utterly foolish to think that Arenn could replace her parents.

"I am sorry, Hermione," Draco whispered to her.

"You didn't-"

"No, I didn't do anything wrong, but you still need to hear it," He interrupted her, pulling back as he leaned closer.

"What am I going to do? I can't …" she began but clamped up.

"You will do what you need to. And if visiting me helps, then I'll stop by like clockwork to see you," Draco whispered, softly pressing his forehead against hers.

"I am sorry for keeping this from you and lashing out. I just …" she whispered back, closing her eyes.

"Hmm. Just rest for now. I think I can also help you with finding a new place. Just needing to get back to London and handle a few things," he whispered still.

Hermione nodded and then snuggled into Draco's chest. Draco wrapped his arms around her body and held her close.

* * *

The next morning, Hermione and Draco were up and walking around in the park.

Hermione was in awe of how much this was a national park. The forests that butted up against the cliffs in the far distance told Hermione that was where Arenn was going to live for the rest of his life.

"Halt," they heard up ahead.

They stopped as Hermione took Draco's hand.

"Are you Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy?" they heard the thick Irish accent from the wizard.

"Yes. We have the baby dragon in the backpack," Draco replied back.

The wizard nodded and said "Follow me. The wards will let you pass,"

Hermione and Draco walked into the wards that kept the muggles back from going into the heart of the park.

"Take him out," the wizard said.

Hermione put the backpack on the ground and then took out the cage. Arenn was awake, quiet but staring out into the distance.

The cage itself suddenly came apart and disappeared as Arenn sniffed the air. He walked a few steps away from them, but stopped. He turned back around and sat next to Hermione.

The Irish wizard heavily sighed and then muttered about something that no one could understand.

Hermione knelt down and then said "You are free, Arenn. This is your home. You belong here and you need to be here,"

Arenn just snuggled into her lap, resting his head.

"Come on, come on! I don't have all day!" the Irish wizard snapped.

Arenn sat up and blew flames at the Irish wizard. He yelped and ran away.

Draco shook his head "coward,"

"Come on Arenn, let's go for a walk," Hermione said, standing up and walking away.

Draco and Arenn followed after her. It took most of the morning but, they were closer to the cliffs then before.

Arenn at the beginning would stick highly close to Hermione, but the closer that they got to the cliffs, the more confidence he got by being away from her.

Hermione smiled when Arenn took off running into the forest bushes and didn't come back.

Draco and she waited for a good hour but, he didn't come back.

It was only when they reached the edge of the forest that Arenn came back. Hermione had turned around and saw him trotting over to her. Draco turned as well as he saw Arenn nearly tackle Hermione to the ground with lots of licks and purring sounds.

"You got to stay here, Arenn. Live your life here. Protect your clan members as much as you possibly can but, do not leave here. I love you," Hermione said to him, gently hugging him close.

Arenn purred softly at her.

"You'll be alright, Arenn. Love you rascal too," Draco said, walking over to him and kneeling down.

Arenn gently pushed Hermione towards Draco and then licked Draco's face before he turned around and disappeared into the forest for good.

Draco helped Hermione stand up and then they walked away.

Hermione laced her fingers with Draco's as they walked through the park. It was then that Hermione let the hot tears trickle down her face.

"You did what was right," Draco tried to soothe her.

"I know. But I will miss him," she replied, smiling a little.

"Hey, just think of it this way, you let him free. Returned him back to the wild. Now, he won't be hurting anyone, except maybe trying to get some sheep, but hey, he's a growing dragon," Draco smirked.

Hermione giggled at this.

"hey, I succeed of getting you to laugh. My good deed for today is completed," he joked.

"Draco, you did two good deeds, possibly three," Hermione countered, laughing more.

"What? Three? How in the bloody hell did I do three?" he continued to be jokingly.

Hermione looked up and smiled at him.

"Alright, alright. I'll quit it. But, you have to admit, I was very heroic," he continued.

"Ooy," Hermione groaned as they walked on the windy path.

Pretty soon they saw that there was a massive group of people.

"Harry?" Hermione asked in shock.

"See! I told you that she was alright! You didn't need to call for me!" Harry snapped at the Irish wizard.

"I did what was right," the Irish wizard snarled back.

Harry walked over and asked "Is he free?"

"Yes. He's back with his clan and won't bother anyone else," Draco replied, wrapping his arm around Hermione's waist.

Harry didn't miss this subtle action but nodded.

"What happened?" a much more authoritative voice asked.

Hermione turned and saw a tall man with dark brown hair, deep blue eyes and had a sharp outfit on.

"I'm Harry Potter; this is my best friend, Hermione Granger. And her boyfriend, Draco Malfoy," Harry introduced themselves to this wizard.

The wizard nodded and said "Meuric Gethin. I'm the head department of the Wizarding Dragon Force. This here is David Rees, looker of the force,"

"Nice to meet you. My friend found a Welsh Dragon egg at Hogwarts and made the journey on foot to release him back into the clan," Harry explained to him.

Meuric nodded and then said "Well, if he grew up from the time that he was a hatchling to now, he will be easier to handle to get back to the clan when break outs happen. What's the name of this dragon?"

"Arenn. His name is Arenn," Hermione answered this wizard.

Meuric nodded and then said "Now, I want you four to leave. Even though it was the right thing to do for Arenn and I thank you for it,"

"Thank you, for letting us release him back into the wild," Hermione replied, shaking his hand.

He nodded and then his team walked back to where they came.

Hermione pushed Harry away and hissed out _"Boyfriend?"_

"What was I to think when your hands were laced together?" He whispered back to her.

A blush came across her face as they walked out of the warded zone and back to where the village was at.

"I got to get back to London. I'll talk to you later, Hermione," Harry said, walking to a tavern to use their fireplace.

"So, since Arenn is back in his rightful place, want to explore this village before you leave or…do you want to leave now?" Draco asked Hermione.

Hermione looked at him and then said "I would like to explore, unless you would like to go home?"

"No. Going back now would mean that I would miss you trying on clothes or telling me some information that has not been remembered for years and years," Draco said, smiling down at her.

Hermione laughed, smiling and said "Alright, but if we stay longer than a few days, people will talk,"

"They have been talking since you were 11 years old. What is going to stop them now?" he smirked, taking her hand.

"That I'm walking around with my hand laced with yours," she smiled back, lacing her fingers with his.

He brought their hands up and kissed the back of her knuckles, smirking ever still.

And so, that is exactly what they did.

They shopped from one shop to the next. Draco pointed out some things that he knew of from being a pureblood and that high society and Hermione pointed a lot of things to him.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note:**_

 _Hello everyone!_

 _I just want to say Thank you for reading, review, favoriting and following this fic. It means a lot to me._

 _Alonia143._

* * *

 _ **Chapter 4.**_

The soft humming of people talking to one another around his home, made Draco's skin crawl with irritation.

It was the Malfoy Christmas Ball and everyone was invited. Draco knew that his mother wanted to show the wizarding world; or the Greater part of Britain, that the Malfoy's had changed since the War.

Ever since he came home from his quest to free Arenn, he had been restless. His father and mother both commented on it.

Draco liked being on quests. He also liked having Hermione snuggle up against him during the night, but he wasn't going to tell any living soul about that.

What also Draco didn't know was that his family was under an inquiry from the Ministry. Thankfully, Potter had kept him out of it for the most part and also told everyone that he was on a quest to free a Welsh Green Dragon that Hermione had found at Hogwarts. Draco even had heard from other people mingling and such, that Potter had even said that Draco was going along with Hermione Granger to free the dragon as a part of his "punishment".

Punishment? Really?

Draco knew that Potter was just buying him some time before he came home to his father being arrested and his mother being detained.

Heavily sighing, Draco suddenly knew that his life was going to be flipped upside down again. Be thrust into the headlines and his family name tarnished forever.

"I wouldn't slouch, boy," he heard from one of his ancestors that hung on the walls.

"Just shut it," He replied back, nursing a glass of firewhiskey on the rocks.

The ancestor sputtered and then stormed from his painting; muttering of young whippersnappers and how the future is bleak if the Malfoy's are going to behave this way.

Draco looked around his home and found that his mother had really outdone herself with the decorating. The manor looked like it was pulled from a magazine.

"Good Evening, Malfoy," a voice greeted him as he looked up.

"Potter, evening," Draco replied back, nodding to Harry.

"How are you doing since the arrest?" Harry asked him, walking further into one of the many libraries of Malfoy Manor.

"Fairing well. Just wish that it wouldn't happen," he muttered, taking a swig of his drink.

Harry nodded and then said "You and your family won't be sent to Azkaban prison,"

"They won't?" Draco asked, staring into his eyes.

"No. Your mother was the one who helped turned the war. And if my word doesn't keep you and your family out of prison, then I fear that the Ministry is going to go downhill sharply," Harry replied, shrugging.

Draco smirked and then said "Yeah. But what do you think of my home? Except for that one time you were held prisoners here,"

"How many of those firewhiskies have you had, Malfoy?" Harry asked him back.

"A few," he replied.

"Yeah, might want to stop. Though it is…a nice place," Harry said, looking around.

Draco smirked and then said "Yeah, this last glass,"

The two old rival former students had nothing else to say. Though Draco was itching to ask on how Hermione was.

He hadn't heard any kind of word from her. It disheartened Draco a lot. Didn't their journey together prove that he was a decent wizard? That, despite their differences, they made an excellent team?

"I take it you haven't heard from Hermione," Harry stated, not asked.

"No, I haven't. Though she is probably going through a lot of therapy and soul searching after what happened in the war," Draco replied, swirling his cup around to distract himself.

Harry nodded and said "Probably. I haven't heard from her either,"

Draco looked up at that and said "I hope she's alright. She is allowed to come here any time if she wishes it,"

"Yeah," Harry said when they both heard footsteps coming their way.

Draco looked over to the archway and saw a wizard. Harry glanced over at Draco but then looked back at the man before them.

"Good evening. Bryan Orius of overseas stocks and you must be Mister Harry Potter," Bryan introduced himself.

The cool aristocrat American voice wasn't something that either Harry or Draco missed.

Draco looked this lean 5'9 wizard with dark brown hair with blue eyes up and down.

"Yes, and this here is Draco Malfoy," Harry said, being polite.

"Oh yes. The one who started this whole war mess. How charming," Bryan drawled, looking down his nose at Draco.

Harry glared up at this American and said "Whatever you think of him, you don't know what exactly happen. So if I was you, I would walk right back out of this room since you are being rude to one of my friends,"

"You would call this traitor to wizarding magic, a friend?" Bryan sneered at Harry.

No one saw the tip of the wand press into Bryan's throat until he went ridged.

"I would think carefully, long and hard, on what words you will say next, Mister Orius. And why would any of us do any business with you when your own company and stock is tumbling hard and fast while you are trying desperately to save it?" Hermione's voice cut in.

Harry and Draco looked for her though she was standing behind Bryan.

"I…I…I…" Bryan tried to explain but the panic in his eyes told Draco everything.

"Get out of here," Hermione said and pushed him away from her friends, standing in front of them.

Bryan looked at the young witch and paled; walking hurriedly away from the room.

"Sorry for being late, I had to attend to some things," Hermione said to Harry and Draco, smiling.

"That was impeccable timing," Harry told her, engulfing her into a hug.

"Yeah well. I don't take insults lightly," she replied, hugging him back.

Draco looked Hermione up and down.

The dress hung just above her shins as it was red on white or silver with short sleeves, soft u of the neck that was wrapped around the white wool scarf.

Draco saw the matching red fancy earrings that dangled a bit as she had her brown hair all silky and smooth with a part to her right. Her white wool coat looked beautiful on her as the red hand bag was in her hands.

"Hello, Hermione," Draco forced himself to say.

Hermione looked up at him and smiled a little "Hello Draco,"

"Would you like your coat off?" he asked, putting his glass on the table.

"Yes, please," she replied, looking at the ground.

Harry didn't know what was more uncomfortable: being in a room with Draco alone or being in the same room where Hermione and Draco were trying to talk to one another.

"I'll leave you guys alone," Harry said, walking away.

Hermione blushed and then looked up at Draco.

"How are you?" she asked him curiously.

"I'm doing well, though a letter would be nice," he commented back.

"I'm sorry. I just need some time to myself, though you are on my list," she smirked.

Draco chuckled and then said "Maybe. Would you like something to drink?"

"Sure, what do you have?" Hermione asked him.

"Well my mum has found this new recipe…though I don't think it's 'new'. Wait here, I'll get it," Draco said, walking into the busier parts of his home.

Hermione looked around the library and saw that it wasn't the same one that she had saw the last time that she was here.

The library had one large Pine tree decorated in beautiful gold and silver. Hermione also noticed that within every room, there was a Christmas tree fully decorated and even had presents under it.

' _No wonder Draco would brag when we were at school,'_ Hermione thought as she sat down on a chair and tried to keep her curious mind away from the books on the shelves.

Draco came back as he smirked. He knew that Hermione couldn't keep away from the books as he walked back into the room.

"Like what you're reading?" he asked, smirking.

Hermione gasped, looking up at him and then blushed heavily.

"I didn't mean…I…" she stammered.

"It's okay Hermione. It's probably the most attention these books have ever gotten besides when my mum wanted to read them," Draco softly soothed to her.

"Really? She bought all of these and never touched them again?" she asked him, looking around the room.

"Well some parts of the reasons why that we had to change rooms is because she loves to read and some of the books are from my family," Draco replied, gently handing her the thick glass.

Hermione noticed that it was Eggnog speckled with cinnamon and the over powering smell of whiskey wasn't that hard to miss either.

"Cheers, Granger," Draco said, softly clinking their glasses together.

"Cheers," she said back, sipping the drink.

They didn't say anything to one another, just sat down, sipped their drinks and that was it.

Draco was itching to ask her all sorts of questions but, he knew that it would be hurtful towards her.

"Did you hear that your baby dragon is actually helping the M.D.F. then one would have thought?" He started off.

Hermione looked up and said "No. I haven't heard anything about Arenn,"

"Yeah, he's making sure that there are less and less breakouts from the clan and he's grown big. I get letters from them; I'll pass them on if you would like to know what he is up to?" Draco said, looking at the fire.

"That would be nice. Though I was thinking of going back to school," Hermione said, biting her lower lip.

Draco nodded and then said "Yeah, my mum is driving me nuts here. Going back wouldn't be that bad,"

"If you could, what classes would you take? And what field would you like to go in?" Hermione asked him curiously.

"Well…I would probably take Magical Creatures, Muggle studies…" He began smiling at her.

"Are you telling me that you loved that little adventure of ours?" she teased him, smiling as well.

"And if I did….what do you make of it?"

"I think it would be good for you to roam the world, though with me tagging along,"

"You wouldn't tag along Hermione. It would be the other way around _if_ you wanted to go,"

"I want to. I know that these past days have been making itch and get away from everything,"

"Then what's holding you back?" Draco asked her curiously.

"Because of how people see me now. I'm the Golden Girl of the Golden Trio who brought down Lord Voldemort and saved the Ministry of Britain," she replied, looking at the floor.

"Well screw those people and thinking. If you want to be away from them, then so be it. You are not the only one who wants to go back out there on another adventure. I mean….I'll have stories upon stories to tell my grandchildren, if I ever wanted a family," Draco announced to her.

Hermione looked at him and then said "Then…let's finish our school year and go on those adventures,"

Draco gasped as he looked at her with wide shocked gray eyes.

"Granger…I mean…Hermione…" he forced the words out of his mouth.

"Yes, it's exactly what I am saying Draco Malfoy," she said, nodding to him.

Draco stood up, walked over to her and then knelt down on one knee.

Hermione was curious on what he was doing as he gently took her hand into his. He didn't know what to say, let alone what to do.

So instead, he brought out her present. He didn't know that he bought it for her in the Muggle world. He just saw it and bought it. Although him missing her was always on his mind.

"What's this?" she asked him, looking at the slender red and gold present.

"What does it look like? A Key?" he retorted back, rolling his eyes.

"I know what it is," she stated.

"Just open it," he said, getting a bit irritated.

Hermione rolled her eyes this time as she opened the narrow wrapped box. Once the paper was unwrapped and the white narrow box gleamed in the firelight, Hermione lifted the lid.

Gasping, Hermione looked up at Draco in utter shock.

The bracelet gleamed in the firelight as Hermione knew that this was a very expensive jewelry. Made with strawberry gold, diamond twist with oval peach Morganite stones, Hermione didn't want to touch it.

Some things were just too pretty to touch.

Draco, seeing her problem, gently took it out of the box, wrapped it around her left wrist and smiled up at her.

"Happy Christmas, love," he said, standing up and kissing her forehead.

Hermione looked up into his silver eyes and blushed "Here, I got this for you,"

Draco sat down and then took the box out of her hands. He unwrapped it and it was his turn to gasp.

What Hermione had bought him was a watch set. One was a wrist watch made out of rose tone and black leather band as it was fairly simple. The second watch was another rose tone, black leather band but, the gears were shown and the 12, 3, 6 and 9 were in Roman number lettering and in blue. The last one was something that Draco took out.

It was an old pocket watch. The tone was the same throughout the set: rose color, had diamonds for the 12, 3, 6 and 9 areas instead of numbers but on the inside of the cover lid, Draco swallowed thickly.

" _Life's a journey, not a race and I'm always right, little Dragon"._

In the background, Draco suddenly saw the image of Arenn and Hermione come into the small frame of the pocket watch. His heart pounded for an unknown reason when he saw Hermione smile at him.

"Do you like it?" she asked him, in her chair still.

Draco jumped because he was so focused on the watches that he forgot that she was truly here.

"Y-yes, I do," he stammered out, looking into her eyes.

Hermione smiled and then stood up; leaning over and softly kissed him on the lips. Draco stilled at this, as he watched her pull back.

"Happy Christmas, Draco," she whispered to him.

He stood up, gently wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you, Hermione," he whispered.

She smiled into his chest as she returned the hug.

"Uh…Granger?" he said, looking up.

Hermione pulled back and then followed where his eyes were looking.

There, just blooming into itself was Mistletoe hanging above them.

"Oh," was all she said.

"I am going to have a long discussion with my mother after this," Draco grumbled.

"I think she is trying to hint at something," Hermione teased him.

"Oh yeah," Draco retorted but leaned down and softly kissed Hermione on the lips again.

From the hallway, it wasn't Narcissa who was smiling. It was Lucius and Harry Potter.

Both men back away from the library and Lucius whispered low "Thank you, Mr. Potter, for helping in that,"

"I only did it because I know Hermione. The journey that she went on with Draco is something that I can't quite get out of my head, but if a little push helps then I'm all for it," Harry muttered back.

Lucius nodded and then said "It's about time that my son had something good in his life,"

Harry looked at him oddly.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Mr. Potter so please brace yourself. I am dying from the Mark. It's poisoning me because my wife betrayed the Dark Lord. It happens whenever someone betrays the Dark Lord. I won't be able to see my grandchildren in person," Lucius said, looking at Harry.

"What can I do to help? There has to be a way to save you," Harry said, knowing that this sounded utterly out of this world.

Lucius Malfoy was one of the Dark Lord's third in command. Sure, he had his failings with doing certain tasks but, it reminded Harry in a very sad way that he is human after all.

"There is no cure since it died with the Dark Lord," Lucius told Harry.

Harry swallowed and then said "Excuse me,"

Lucius watched Harry walk back towards the library and wondered if there was a cure. Lucius was getting frail and weak. He looked exhausted and worn out these days.

Draco walked over to his father with Hermione and Harry behind him.

"Why didn't you tell me of this?" Draco hissed at his father.

"Because I didn't want you to worry about me," Lucius said almost tiredly.

"I have the damn mark, Father. I too failed Lord Voldemort," Draco reminded him in a deathly hiss.

"I don't know if there is a cure. The only person who knows of it would be the Dark Lord Himself," Lucius whispered to him.

Everyone around the small group ignored what they were discussing and chit chatting with other people around them.

"What do you know?" Draco asked his father.

"The Amazon. He muttered that there were a lot of plants and flowers that could be any of the ingredients," Lucius said with his eyes closed.

"And how did you get the mark in the first place?" Hermione asked Lucius.

Draco paled and shivered a little.

"There is a flower. A flower that helps with the dark magic to help creature the Mark," Lucius told them.

"Harry come on," Hermione said, grabbing his hand and Draco's.

And so the trio left in a crack, startling everyone in the room.

Hermione was back in her flat, waving her wand and grabbing some books.

"Hermione, where are we now?" Draco asked her, looking around dizzily.

"My flat. If the Mark is killing you and anyone who betrayed Lord Voldemort, we need to act fast," she replied, gathering everything up.

"I need to tell Ginny-"

"There is no time, for that, Harry!" Hermione cut him off.

Harry nodded as she grabbed his hand with lacing her own with Draco's.

CRACK!

Once more they were gone and off on another adventure.

* * *

 _._

 _Twelve months later_

Hermione was sweating, panting and her body was strained.

She had been running from a native tribe to get this one last ingredient for curing Draco and Lucius Malfoy. Draco was still young, so his body had been fighting the effects of the Betrayal Cruse. Lucius wasn't so young as Draco, but was still fighting the curse none-the-less.

Hermione jogged back to camp and ducked into the tent.

"Did you get it?" Harry asked her worriedly as he tended to a sweating Draco in his bed.

"Yes. I can't believe that Lord Voldemort would use this since it's the same name as your mother's," Hermione said, putting the large beautifully smelling sentient lily into a bowl to grind up.

"Along with using weird plants like that of Mimic bamboo?" Harry said back, wiping Draco's face with a damp cloth once more.

Hermione then tipped the bowl into the cauldron as it smoked and bubbled before turning into a clear liquid. She scooped some of it into a glass and walked hurriedly over to Draco.

Harry gently rubbed his throat as Hermione pressed the glass to his lip and tilt it so that the liquid would pour slowly into his mouth. Draco's arm where the Dark Mark was glared angrily in puffy red.

The two best friends watched that arm for a long time after Draco had swallowed of the liquid.

"Harry…it's not working…why isn't it working?" Hermione said worriedly.

"Give it some time," Harry replied, trying to keep his worry out of his voice.

"Come on, Draco. Wake up," Hermione whispered next to his ear "I love you too much for you to suddenly die now,"

Whatever she said, it must have worked because there was a blindly white light that filled the tent.

Harry and Hermione had to cover their eyes as it then was gone.

Both friends looked and then gasped when they saw the dark mark fade from the glaring red ink to nothing at all.

"We did it. We found the cure. Harry come on! Lucius!" Hermione said excitedly.

"You stay here. I'll go," Harry told her, grabbing a large bottle and scooping the liquid into it.

"Alright," she replied, looking back at Draco's coloring face.

Harry was gone in a loud crack.

"Is he gone now?" a new but hoarse voice greeted Hermione's ears.

"Draco!" she gasped.

"Hey Granger," he said, his eyes locked onto hers as she smiled at him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him with warm tears trickling down her face.

"Like I have been hit by the night bus several dozen times," he replied, gently pushing himself up and leaning against his pillows.

Hermione threw morals out the window as she leaned down and kissed him on the lips.

Draco smirked into the kiss but she pulled back.

"What? That's all I get?" he complained.

"Here," she said, waving her wand as a tooth brush, mouth wash and a bucket appeared.

"You want me to"

"To brush your teeth and wash out your mouth because it taste horrid," Hermione finished for him.

"Thanks a lot Granger," Draco retorted but did as she requested of him.

"You're welcome, cupcake," she teased, smiling.

After he brushed his teeth and washed out his mouth, he looked around the tent. It looked messy.

"What happened here?" he asked confused.

"Harry and I have been trying to find the right ingredients since you couldn't help us anymore. And we need to leave," she said, listening to the outside.

"I don't" was all Draco could get out as the tent and him were gone in a whirl.

When the world had stopped spinning, Draco leaned over his bed and threw up into the bucket.

Hermione softly rubbed his back as she then heard "Oh Lucius will you quit already!"

"Mum?" Draco whined out.

They heard a gasp and then clicking sounds of heels.

Hermione waved her wand before Draco as he was suddenly rushed into a magical bath, dressed probably and was no longer sick.

He leaned against Hermione as she walked them out of the tent and looked around the Malfoy Manor.

Draco looked around confusedly because he saw the Christmas decorations out, again.

"How long were we gone?" he asked, looking down at Hermione in confusion.

"A whole year," Narcissa said, rushing over to her baby and hugging him.

"Hello, mother," Draco greeted her, wrapping his arms around her.

"Hello my little dragon. You're father survived as well. He is causing such a stint in the bedroom," She huffed at her son.

Draco shook his head but chuckled.

"So it worked?" Hermione asked Narcissa.

"Yes it did. Mr. Potter had to leave as he is working on getting Theodore Knott cured as well," Narcissa replied.

Draco looked in shock at this.

Hermione nodded and then said "Alright, well I have some news, so maybe we can go where Lucius is at?"

"Is this good news?" Draco asked her curiously.

"You'll see," was all she said to him.

Draco nodded as they walked to where Lucius was at, grumbling away from his very large bed.

"Father," Draco greeted him.

"Draco," Lucius said shocked that Draco was alive.

"Hermione has some news for all us to hear," Narcissa cut in, giving Lucius a stern look.

Draco looked at the witch before him and waited nervously.

"The potion that cured you will have effects that is not normally known to the wizarding world or the human world in general," Hermione began "It will prolong your life by another 100 years and if someone does a blood potion like what happened to Harry in the graveyard, it will kill the other person,"

Draco swallowed and then said "What about you? Mother?"

"We can drink it, but it won't do anything else but prolong our life," Hermione explained to him.

"So we will live for 300 years?" Lucius asked her.

"Yes…" Hermione said looking at the bed.

"What else are you trying to say?" Narcissa asked her next.

"It will not let us have any children after we drink the potion," Hermione told them, looking at Narcissa mostly.

Draco stood still.

"We can't have that happen," Lucius said to Hermione.

"I know, which is why I won't be taking the potion until well after this baby is born," Hermione informed them.

"What?" Lucius and Narcissa asked at once.

Draco however, blushed heavily as he knew then that Hermione was a few months pregnant.

"Draco Malfoy," Narcissa scolded her only child.

"I only fell ill after that night, a few months ago," Draco replied back.

"Propose to Hermione Granger, right now son," Lucius told him with a stern look.

Hermione turned towards Draco as he heavily sighed and knelt down on one knee.

"I think this is becoming a phase, Hermione," he whispered to her.

She bit her lower lip from laughing.

"Will you marry me, Hermione Granger?" Draco asked, looking up into her eyes.

"Yes Draco Malfoy, I will marry you," Hermione replied back.

Draco stood up, pulled out a ring with a massive dew drop ruby on it.

Hermione gasped and then said "I had wondered where The Flare Jewel had gone to,"

Draco snorted and then said "Don't tell that tribe that,"

"Tribe?" his parents asked him.

Hermione glared at Draco who smirked wolfishly back.

"Draco had to get this ingredient from the native tribe. They also said about a cursed ruby in the shape of a dew drop. The Flare Jewel is what they called it because apparently it catches anything or anyone on fire," Hermione explained to them both.

Both his parents stared at him now.

"I had to take the jewel in order to get the flower. I replaced it with a glass that was the same shape and such," Draco replied, looking at the ground now.

"You better have that checked out," His mother hissed.

"I already did. That same night when Potter and Hermione were both fast asleep. I disappeared to the legendary curse breaker, David Cryel, and he said that there were no curses, spells, and jinxes ect. on this stone. It was just a legend to the native tribe," He explained to them all.

"Well, that is good to know. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm hungry and I'm feeding for another," Hermione said and walked out of the room.

Draco heavily sighed as he knew that he was in major trouble with his now fiancée.

"Happy Christmas, Draco," His mother told him.

"Yeah…Happy Christmas," he replied, walking out of the room and hopefully try to smooth things over with the fierier Gryffindor that was going to make his life worthwhile.

Happy Christmas indeed.

 _ **FIN**_


End file.
